reezeh

Indeed: why the insistence on colour index? Personally, I've always had a fondness for low pressure sodium yellow. The pure yellow colour I find appealing and it has the advantage of of being very easy to eliminate. I dislike high pressure sodium though as it is all over the spectrum so is harder to filter out. So LCDs that are true LPS yellow would be a boon.

I'm all in favour of the technology as long as used properly. I think if they could be made so that they are narrow band; ideally low pressure sodium wavelengths only, shielded and fitted with passive infra red detectors so they only are active when needed they would be the best thing since dark skies. It won't be perfect, but it'll be the best compromise possible for all. I do hate garden lighting and floodlights that are forever on. My neighbour has one that is on sunset to sunrise and there's absolutely NO off switch! The housing association or whatever it is that is responsible has fitted the damn thing with absolutely NO consultation with me. It has a pir detector on it, but doesn't seem to do a jot. I've gotten used to the school playing field's floodlights right at me because the DO get turned off about 2130 weekdays. Not on at weekend at least.

Going by the rules it's where the ball is in the logo!

Reminds me of the pet football I had that I named Spot 😀 Oops sorry wrong thread!

Fair enough. Not everyone is and tastes and interests change. I'm increasingly seeing the appeal, being hampered by light-pollution and work hours keeping me from enjoying the night sky as I would "reasonably" like.

If you're ever planning on H-alpha solar I can't see any disadvantage at all. CA should not be an issue, saving you a lot of money over an apo. And aside from imaging an achromat isn't a big handicap. Go back not a million years and achromatic refractors were seen as serious kit well worth having. A six inch achro was "THE Mars scope to have" A good telescope is anything you're using and looking through. If it shows you things, then it's a good scope. Edit: Additional: talking of solar, even white light and projection is something suitable for an 80mm achro. The just above 1" resolution is getting close to what you'll achieve in daytime most places anyway. And chances are, the objective lens won't suffer as a cemented apo. Just get some cheap uncemented eyepieces if you want to project the sun. it's a win-win!

Hi 👋 and welcome to SGL

This makes me want to get out with my herschel wedge but the cold weather and low sun over rooftops and resultant bad seeing will probably kill it for me. Plus work (yep, still forced to go to work) getting in the way and my morning head and ritual (don't ask about that one! ). But I still get quite a bit of time off - I've got a post planned about that 😉 Got the wedge for when solar activity picks up. Hoping maybe in a few years I can get a H-alpha setup based around my bresser 152L. Figuring that as bandwidths are so narrow; who needs apo?

Is this why your avatar has four eyes Stu?

He might need to stretch his necks a bit too far! 😊

We said almost exactly the same thing! I was just composing a longer reply on my phone so took a bit longer to post.

Hi Neil 👋 and welcome to SGL I'm far from an astrophotography imaging expert, but when it comes to mounts there's no such thing as overkill. A mount that can handle a 300 tonne capacity with ease is nowhere near too big for a 100 gramme webcam. Only things that matter are can you comfortably house and move it and can you afford it. Those here who are into their deep sky imaging will probably give good detailed advice about that mount and at least some of the alternatives. If you have any chance to see firsthand the mounts do take it up - Covid restrictions permitting.

It kind of used to be done like that before ccd and cmos cameras. With film you got what you got. Results looked rough but the aim was to capture useful measurable information instead of "pretty"

Here's one helluva tough one for all us brits and Irish: Have two consecutive clear nights!

Apart from the things mentioned already there's nothing else to add but the "hat trick" but that's for longer exposures: Block the telescope view with something dark until all the shaking had stopped. Take the hat or whatever you're using out of the way to expose and return it to end the exposure and close the shutter. It's basically how photographers used to do it on those old huge plate cameras. Only other way around the problem is to go mirrorless. There's quite a few decent second hand mirrorless cameras on the market nowadays especially from Panasonic and Olympus that can make fine astro cams.

Could you imagine trying to look through that thing in our British Bortle 27 skies? 😂😂😂

They're just a weight so you can "blind bake" pastry... I think. Look a bit like gravel. Kind of tough on the teeth tho 😉

Look at the bright side Makes it almost as hard to lose as a golf ball!

Despite saying that's it for astro purchases a year or ago, I've been norty 😈 since November and bought yet more astronomy-related stuff. I was considering taking piccies but you'll all just get annoyed at me taking over the thread. So here's a list: Celestron-NexStar 102GT refractor from ENS Optical for grab n go sessions - the eyepieces might be rated a bit meh but never dismiss them for solar projection type work 😉 ( I was after a Celestron - Vixen 102mm HD refractor in excellent condition on ebay but it was collect-only and about 150 miles away and went to someone who was willing to travel. Seller didn't really want to post unless he couldn't sell it quickly at the time. I'm gutted because it looked like it was going to be a bargain even with courier costs added ). Baader 1.25 inch filters from FLO arrived yesterday! Light blue, Solar continuum and OIII Books from FLO and ebay: Harrington - Cosmic Challenge Argyle - An Anthology Of Visual Double Stars Willmann-Bell - Solar Astronomy Handbook Paolini - Choosing And Using Astronomical Eyepieces Jensen - Budget Astrophotography Mobberley - The Caldwell Objects Griffiths - Planetary Nebulae and How to Observe Them Plus 4 non-astro related books and 700g of ceramic baking beans. A month ago I'd have added a partridge in a pear tree to this list! 😅 Blame me for forcing FLO and ENS Optical packing all this bad weather folks!

It might need collimating. Always worth the check.

Is Brian Jones, author and founding member of Bradford Astronomical Society available? I do know he is online because he has a twitter account. I'm not sure if he'll respond to there or what his personal contact details are. Perhaps a talk could be arranged via Bradford Astro Soc secretary. Just a suggestion

I heard Linn Isobariks are going for a good price if you can find any 😉

Hi Traveler 👋

Hi and welcome to the forum Astro-Bird 👋

Welcome back Gary